that's it for us tonight. i'll see you back here tomorrow night. ac 360 starts right now. tomorrow morning, as a matter of fact. see ya. good evening. i'm jim schuto in tonight for anderson. we begin back on the campaign trail. donald trump is speaking at a rally in new hampshire. he's been talking for about 45 minutes now. he spent the long holiday weekend waging new feuds on to new fronts. target number one, virginia republican party. mr. trump has been slamming party officials there for requiring voters to sign a loyalty oath before voting in the republican primary.

that requirement could hurt mr. trump who has shown strong support among independents and conservative voters who haven't been politically engaged before. feud number two, that centers on hillary clinton. mr. trump is amping up accusations that mr. trump is playing the women's card and dragging bill clinton's past infidelities into the battle. sara murray joins me now with the latest. sarah, listening to him tonight, what did he have to say on the two new battles he's waging? >> reporter: that's right. let's start with clinton because he was talking about her essentially saying there is no difference between hillary clinton and barack obama, and he kicked off his speech by saying he is hillary clinton's worst nightmare and claiming the clinton campaign is devastated by the things he's been saying but he did not dive directly into the accusations, into the criticisms he's been making about bill clinton's past infidelities. that's something he's been

tweeting a storm about the last couple days but tonight he's not willing to go that far, at least on the stump in new hampshire, jim. >> on the second battle between the virginia gop and trump, this is essentially the establishment republican party versus donald trump. what is at the root of this battle? >> well, again, this was a tweet storm from donald trump going after the virginia republican party saying that they are trying to block independents, trying to block democrats from coming to the poll essentially what the republican party is asking voters to do is sign an affiliation and say you are a republican voter before you vote in the primary. the reason that donald trump is so concerned is one, because he's constantly looking for signs that establishment republicans are trying to keep him and his voters out of the race, they are trying to sideline support but two the reality is in places like iowa and new hampshire and virginia

you talk to voters who have never turned out to the polls before who show up at rallies and interested in trump. so if they see that, that might potentially be something that could block them from going to the polls and that's what trump said in an interview today could be something that could hurt him. >> big part of his support. sarah murray, thanks, right there with the candidate. lots to talk about with our panel tonight. joining me, a republican that serves in the virginia house of delegates and cnn political commentator amanda carpenter and trump supporter jeffrey lord who was white house political director in the regan administration. david, i'd like to begin with you. yesterday you responded directly to donald trump in that forum that he likes by tweeting and you tweeted quote, our party, our rules, your dollars and bullying do not work in the commonwealth, as in the commonwealth virginia, moron, you say that's trump's grievances about the loyalty pledge unacceptable. can you tell us why? why is he on thin ground here? >> good evening, jim.

good to be on the show. look, this is very simple. this is nothing new to the republican party to virginia or virginia overall. if you know virginia, you knew this was coming and not just something that happened this week or yesterday. this is a decision taken by the grass roots, by conservative grassroot committee, our governing body back in september. this is a simple process, it's a nine word statement of affiliation which states my statement below indicates that i am a republican. this is a republican nomination. for the republican nomination, it should be republican nominations who are voting and deciding who is going to be the nominee. same thing on the democratic side. we have had this pledge, although this time it's not a pledge, it's a statement of affiliation and stronger pledges in the past and back in 200 we had a pledge and the highest primary. we don't understand what is the problem. we don't understand why mr.

trump decided to go on a rant against the republican party of virginia yesterday. i believe it was uncalled for and it was my decision to respond. >> jeff, i want to go to you now, because we know why trump is doing this and that's because he does appeal outside traditional republican base. do you believe a move like this by the republican party of virginia is clearly aimed directly at your candidate, to be clear, they put out a statement saying it's not targeting any candidate or group of voters in particular but do you buy that? >> no. no. i don't buy it. you know, the thing that i find so amazing here, back in december of 1976, a month after president ford lost his reelection, ronald reagan sat down for an interview with the new york times and said that the only way the republican party could win is to save itself by declaring conservatives believes and the very first thing he said in this article was that he

intended to court democrats and independents who were conservatives and welcome them in and said the republican party has too many folks that see the party as quote unquote fraternal order. in order, a club. what i'm hearing out of virginia here is that the republican party is a club, that you got to be -- you've got to join it and do it their way or they don't want you. this is why the republican party loses elections. >> there are two risks. >> not a fraternal order. >> there are effectively two risks. if trump keeps picking fights like this, does he run the risk of alienating that club in effect that jeffrey is talking about there, prominent block of republican voting base? is that a risk for him and then give me a moment because david, i want to then come to you.

>> i see both sides of it. certainly virginia has the right to set its own rules. that said, it seems like the state is trying to have it both ways, a closed primary light by stating your affiliation. i'm a conservative and identify as a conservative, not necessarily republican. i think trump has a valid complaint that he's trying to bring new people into the fold but i think the proof will be in the pudding. is this pledge meant to encourage turnout or discourage turnout? if it's meant to encourage and get people to identify as republican for the first time getting into the habit of voting that way, it's a good thing but the way it's written, it seems like a blind party pledge. i would like it if it was a little more robust as a recruitment tool, something like the contract with america people could rally behind but i don't see that happening here. just blanket i'm a republican. >> david -- >> people don't identify just with the party anymore. >> let me come to you, david. there is an equal risk on the other side that the republican party of virginia alienates this new energized base who may have different views on some issues or big issues but they are attracted to a republican candidate here.

what is wrong with expanding that tent, right, if we talk about the big tent party, what is wrong with that? >> we are the big tent party. we want everybody to join us in this party. we're asking they indicate they are republicans. if they have not identified as republicans before, we are inviting them to identify as republicans now. it's a big party, please join us. this is not against anybody. every campaign was notified back in september that the republican party of virginia was considering such a statement. there was no return from the trump campaign or any other campaign that objected to it, zero objections. it was debated by the grass root leaders, these are 47 people that voted for this are grass root leaders that have supporte leaders, these are 47 people that voted for this are grass root leaders that have supported great conservative candidates in virginia. they all ran last time as part of the movement in virginia.

so this is not an establishment versus anybody. anybody who tries to claim this is an establishment, they are just making it up. the facts are not on their side. >> jeff, i heard you laughing so i know you disagree. these fights with donald trump whether it's a state republican parties or the rnc and we've certainly seen that, as well, do you see them continuing perhaps even past the convention if he does in fact become the nominee? >> well, it would be very interesting. that kind of thing has happened in the past. berry gold water won the nomination in 1964 and governor nomination in 1964 and governor rockefeller and romney of michigan, the father of mitt romney did not endorse him. so this kind of thing can happen. it's happened in the past. i would hope not if we want to win. i would hope not. >> amanda, i want to give you the final word here. we're running out of time. the person that comes out benefitting from all of this

donald trump, not the establishment, i mean, this is exactly what his supporters like about him, is it not? that he's standing up to the party? >> yeah, here is the thing. i want to know when donald trump is going to start acting like a front runner. it seems like he's always finding excuses for potential failure later and when i look at this given the fact this was decided in september, he hasn't said anything until now. i don't think he knew. he has a big march for southern super tuesday problem. there is a dozen states that vote that day. virginia is one of them. there is 565 delegates at steak. i think he's setting himself up to find someone to blame for a wipeout that day. ak. i think he's setting himself up to find someone to blame for a wipeout that day. e. i think he's setting himself up to find someone to blame for a wipeout that day. >> well, we have to leave it there. amanda carpenter and jeffrey lord, thanks very much. coming up next for us, more from donald trump, this time about who is more sexist, trump or hillary clinton's husband, former president, of course, bill clinton and what the prosecutor calls a perfect storm of mistakes that killed 12-year-old tamir rice. a tragedy by any measure but not a crime, that's what a grand jury ruled today.

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as we said, donald trump is ramping up attacks on hillary clinton. over the weekend, he accused a democratic front runner of unfairly playing the women's card after she said mr. trump had a pension for sexism. trump turned around and used those words to attack clinton's husband in a tweet which he defended as fair play. >> i think he is fair game because his presidency was really considered to be very troubled, to put it mildly, because of the things that she's talking to me about. i mean, she's mentioning sexism. i turned her exact words, i don't know if you saw the following tweet but i turned her exact words against her from that standpoint. >> this morning trump doubled down with another tweet about mr. clinton that read if hillary clinton thinks she can unleash her husband with his terrible record of woman abuse while playing the women's card on me, she's wrong. now late tonight, hillary clinton's campaign fired back releasing a statement that read in part, quote, though donald trump has pushed around nearly all of us, all of his fellow republicans, hillary clinton won't be bullied or distracted by attacks he throws at her and former president clinton.

so lots to talk about with ryan lizza, the washington correspondent for the new yorker and maggie haberman. she is the "new york times" presidential campaign correspondent. ryan and maggie, great to have you on. ryan, i want to start with you because i want to play a clip, this is of donald trump in 2008 in an interview our wolf blitzer where he's talking about president clinton's impeachment and very critical of president george w. bush and takes up for president clinton. let's have a listen to what he said. >> he lied. he got us into the war with lies, and i mean, look at the trouble bill clinton got into with something that was totally unimportant and they tried to impeach him, which was nonsense, and bush got us into a horrible war with wars by lying saying they had weapons of mass destruction and all sorts of things that turned out not to be true. >> calls impeachment unimportant, nonsense.

you take that along with the friendship between the trump and clintons and wedding invitations, et cetera, you can write the attack ad yourself. do people have memories that long in a campaign cycle? >> well, two things. one is there is nobody out there spending money pointing these things out the way you just did, jim and two, the argument that he made there was basically the liberal argument back in the '90s, right, that impeachment was a destruction and bigger issues and liberal critics of bush in the war pointed out the same thing trump pointed to in the comment that compared to what clinton did, compared to the infidelities and statements about the lewinsky scandal was nothing compared to matters of life and death in the iraq war. like a lot of these issues, trump had a much more liberal position back then, but i don't

see a whole lot of his opponents going after him in a systematic well-funded way. so he's just going to move along high on top of the polls until someone does. >> and you hear him right there at the trump rally certainly still getting cheers on the campaign trail. maggie, initially this battle began with hillary clinton and trump throwing out sexism allegations in both directions but trump took it to another level saying bill clinton has quote a terrible record of woman abuse that is quite a charge. is this a preview of what is to come particularly if trump and clinton become the two nominees? >> it's certainly a preview if that's the case but we have to get there first. what trump started doing is teasing an attack on hillary clinton related to this. he kept saying be careful on twitter and not actually saying what he was talking about a couple of his aids, spokeswoman went the furthest on this over the holiday weekend.

his national political director talked about it with wolf blitzer but didn't go that far so trump finally went there himself, which guarantees much more coverage of it. i do think that you will see a lot more of this, you know, if they are facing each other. what i haven't been able to hear at the end of the rally is whether trump himself talked about it from the stage in new hampshire. that remains an open question bringing this up in front of voters i think is a different point and i agree with ryan that somebody putting this on air as a criticism of trump, you're unlikely to see that in a republican primary. you're certainly not going to see that from the democrats. but right now, this is taking place essentially as a media argument. it remains to be seen how broad amp fa case it gets. >> the argument bill clinton is fair game, there are others on both parties that might make that case but i want to play what rand paul said about the

feud on trump and clinton particularly on the issue of trump and bill clinton. have a listen. >> i don't think it's hillary's fault but bill clinton is who he is and there are laws we have and social norms and i think we've improved the social norms where men are not allowed to prey on women at the workplace and i think the waybill clinton treated monica lewinsky, that behavior wouldn't be tolerated in any corporation in america. >> first, he makes an argument others have made but now you have two republican candidates, rand paul, quite far back, but making that same case. what do you make of that and does that stick on the campaign trail speaking specifically about hillary clinton? >> i think it makes it clear whoever the nominee is that all of the issues from the '90s and the clinton era will be relitigated and prosecuted by the republican nominee and it

started with rand and obviously, trump is taking it farther than anyone which is what he does but i guarantee if it's chris christie or if it's jeb bush or marco rubio, these issues will be raised, right? george w. bush when he ran in 2000 against al gore, he talked about restoring honor and decency to the white house. that was a way of raising issues. so hillary clinton, she's got to deal with the baggage of her husband and all of the positives that he brings because remember, his polling numbers, approval numbers are quite high, bill clinton's. they are higher than hers. so he's a curse and a blessing and one point on what maggie was saying, trump did not really go after hillary on these issues tonight and in fact he brought up the phrase he mentioned and he specifically said he didn't want that to be the story tonight, tonight was about attacking chris christie and

about attacking a local newspaper publisher who has endorsed chris christie. so he's moved onto the next attack tonight. >> i'm not going to use that phrase, either but thanks ryan and maggie haberman, great to have you both. coming up next, the rookie cop that killed 12-year-old tamir rice will not face chargers, neither will his partner. his family says the prosecutor sabotaged the case. a victory for iraqi forces. they have taken control of a key city from isis. what it means for a broader group and for president obama's strategy. t? try align for a non-stop, sweet-treat-goodness hold-onto-your-tiara, kind-of-day. live 24/7 with 24/7 digestive support. try align, the undisputed #1 ge recommended probiotic.

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welcome back. today a grand jury declined to indict two police officers in the shooting death of 12-year-old tamir rice. rice was killed more than a year ago outside a cleveland recreation center. he had a handgun, a toy, and someone called 911. today someone showed a picture of that gun next to a real weapon and they also played magnified video showing tamir account and showing tamir was drawing that pellet gun from his waistband and the dispatcher neglected to tell police other information given by the 911 caller, rice's youth and the possibility that gun was just a toy. the prosecutor called tamir's death a tragedy, not a crime. the rice family does not see it that way. tonight they are accusing the prosecutor of sabotaging the case.

martin savidge joins us now. it's been a year since this happened. what's the reaction you're seeing there now that there is no indictment? >> reporter: well, the immediate reaction is subdued. there have been a number of protests. there was one that took place at the justice center downtown and another that took place earlier here at the scene where the shooting took place. back in 2014. but in both cases you had about two dozen people. more protests are planned for tomorrow. but the other thing to point out here is that it was known that this was coming but perhaps not at this particular time, in other words, the week between christmas and new years. that seems to surprised a lot of people, caught them off guard. the family of tamir rice is extremely angry and the mother issued a statement. if it, she said that -- well, if i can bring it up on my phone. one second. she felt this case was badly

mishandled by the prosecutor here and goes on to say the prosecutor mcginty deliberately sabotaged the case, never advocating for my son and acting instead like the police. officer aps defense attorney. she goes on, we mourn for tamir and for all of the black people who have been killed by the police without justice. in our view, this process demonstrates that rice -- race, rather, is still an extremely troubling and serious problem in our country and the criminal justice system. so a very strong backlash against what the mother says was the murder of her son, which clearly the prosecutor and the grand jury disagree. >> the phrase stuck in my mind, they said they were disappointed but not surprised shows how persuasive an issue this is. martin savidge, great to have you on the scene. certainly a lot to talk about here. joining me now, sunny hostin,

retired nypd detective harry hauke and mark geragos. >> sunny, you've been following this case at the beginning and said this case needed a special prosecutor. did this decision not to indict surprise you? >> well, it certainly did surprise me. the bottom line is you have an officer who was let go from another police department just two years before this because they found that he was emotionally immature, they found he had a dangerous loss of composure during firearms training and most importantly, the supervisor said he didn't believe time nor training would correct the deficiencies in 2012 and the cleveland police department never reviewed that personnel file. so there is just no question in my mind that this is an officer that was certainly probable cause that he committed a crime here. there was a judge in the county

that found the same. there have been experts that found the same. the fact after all of that type of evidence and the fact that this officer who was clearly incompetent shot tamir rice two seconds after getting out of his place cruiser, that tells me that given the evidence when prosecutor mcginty says he recommends no charges be filed, this necessitates and screams out for a special prosecutor, unbias and looking for prosecution. let's be clear and mark geragos, i think will agree with me. prosecutors control the grand jury. prosecutors control the flow of information. which evidence is presented. if you want an indictment, you get an indictment as a prosecutor. this prosecutor didn't want an indictment. >> that's not true at all and you know it's not. did you always -- >> very true. >> in fairness, mark, i do want to ask you a question as a defense attorney. there have been a lot of cases like this and i don't want them to merge together because the

circumstances are different and we don't want to make the mistake. for my sake and the sake of my viewers, what is the legal standard and what would a prosecutor or grand jury have to prove that a police officer used force unreasonably because that was a big judgment in this case, would a reasonable police officer have made in the judgment and decided yes, based on mistaking for instance the gun and being a real gun. what standard, is there a standard, an identifiable standard that prosecutors have to reach to get charges against a police officer? >> look, i jokingly say -- and it's not too far from the truth -- that the standard for probable cause has devolved into is the defendant breathing? sunny is absolutely correct and i know we don't often agree but

if that prosecutor had wanted an indictment, that prosecutor would have had an indictment. tamir rice's mother and the statement that was read was absolutely true. this cuyahoga county prosecutor acted like the defense lawyer. he did what the defense lawyer did. he went out and hired experts that said the officer reacted reasonably. he allowed, if you believe what's being reported, the officers to come in and read statements and not be cross-examined. that's unheard of. when you have a prosecutor wants to go through a dog and pony show and be able to wash his hands of it and say hey, i didn't do it, the grand jury didn't indict that's a complete farce and that's why people are angry. in fact, in california we've just passed a law that in circumstances like this, you can't go to a grand jury because it's a ruse. grand jury originally was supposed to be a bull work against abuse by prosecutors. it's now become a hand maiden for the prosecutors. >> i know you have thoughts on this and you're a police officer and look at the circumstances.

did officers have a choice but to shoot? >> no, they didn't have a choice -- >> come on, harry, shot him in two seconds. >> please let me talk, please. are you going to talk the whole show? and i can't say anything? as soon as the officers got there and i said in the past, maybe their tactics were bad, they should not have pulled up close to him but the fact is and the fbi reviewed the video, also, when the officer got out of the car, tamir rice was going for something in his waistband, which was that gun, which looked exactly like a gun and the police officer has only one thing to do, he has to fire his weapon to be able to save his life. now, we don't have crystal balls -- >> harry, harry. >> when we -- >> nobody is asking for a crystal ball -- >> all right. >> harry -- >> that whether or not that republic is a real weapon -- >> give him a chance to finish and then we'll come to you. >> if you can see -- >> mark, go ahead for a moment. >> am i going to be allowed to talk here at all? >> you are for sure, harry. >> i want you to understand -- >> you made your point. let's give mark a quick response

and you a chance. >> harry, i would agree with you that maybe beyond a reasonable doubt he wouldn't have been convicted but there are defenses but that doesn't excuse this complete farce of saying there wasn't probable cause. even you, harry, probably the most supporter for law enforcement can see the tactics were lacking. there is no way you can justify rolling up on the scene and within two seconds shooting somebody. >> let me ask you to answer that. the speed, harry, if you can answer the speed. >> it doesn't matter. >> what? >> two seconds? >> yes, it does. >> the fact it doesn't matter, two seconds. how long is it going to take for me to get killed? if that gun was a real gun and he waited two or three more seconds, we would be talking about a dead police officer. we don't know that. that officer did not know -- >> no, harry, because the gun was not real. >> and that's why it wasn't indicted and that's why the fbi is going to clear them all. if there is a civil rights --

>> sunny, i want to give you a quick moment for a quick thought before we go away. >> the bottom line is the actions of the dispatcher should be looked at. the shooting itself needs to be looked at. the response afterwards -- let's remember the officers didn't provide first aid because they had no training. this is an untrained, incompetent police officer that's tactically decided to put himself in harm's way to rush up near this person that he thought was armed, get out of the car and shoot anymore in two seconds and by the way, and by the way, he claimed that he gave -- >> sunny. >> he claimed he gave tamir rice repeated commands to drop the gun, repeated commands to do this and do that but shot him in two seconds. tell me how that makes sense, harry. >> the biggest -- >> how do you comply with an order but not give him the opportunity to -- >> cut behind your desk. here is a police officer that was thinking in his mind that he might have been killed when somebody was drawing a weapon on him.

he wants to go home to his family like everybody else. >> two seconds -- >> harry, sunny, mark, we have to leave it there. >> crazy -- >> we have to leave it there. this is -- listen, we're hearing right now and have before, this is a debate happening in communities around the country right now. and i appreciate you all coming at it with passion. i do. sunny, harry, mark, you know what you're talking about. happy new years. >> happy new year. iraqi troops retaking a key city near baghdad from isis. is it a victory for president obama's anti terror strategy? i'm in search for the elusive...affordable 2 bedroom apartment. you know what you should do before you start? what's that? check your credit score. why would i need to do that? somebody else is going to check it, don't you want to know what they might find? sign up on credit karma. credit karma? yeah. huh, that was easy! kinda regret buying all this stuff now. looks good though, right? looks great. ladies love a man in a uniform.

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the x1 voice remote is here. the iraqi government says it could have retaken the city of ramadi that isis captured in may. it is a setback for the islamic state and looks like evidence supporting president obama's strategy for fighting isis, but still, americans are skeptical. in the latest cnn orc poll, 25% say they are satisfied with how things are going in the war on terrorism, almost three times as many people, 74% are not satisfied. so a great deal to discuss tonight. joining me now, cnn military analyst and general mark hurtling and also, cnn contributor michael weiss and editor for the daily beast and co-author of isis inside the army of terror. this is something that had, got

most of it. i positive and a tactical battle that's part of the campaign and a lot of words. first step. it shows the forces have come alive again. reglued as we say in the military, retrained and seem to have this support of the central government in baghdad. all of those things critically important to defeat isis in iraq. so from that standpoint, it's a positive first step and congratulations to now what seems to be a well-led and better trained iraqi army. >> we've seen those congratulations coming in from

the u.s. president, french president and elsewhere. michael, i spent a lot of time in iraq as i know you did going back to the u.s. invasion familiar tactic of isis and predecessor in iraq was to retreat but then keep up the attack, blend into the population and carry out ambushes, assaults, et cetera. knowing that pattern, should we assume that something like that is going to follow a tactical victory like this? >> sure. in fact, there is evidence this week that they have escalated their opportunistic attacks in the province. keep in mind, the isis spokesman has said is going to be one of the most crucial provinces in the country that isis is looking to deteriorate iraqi security forces infrastructure there. i agree with the general. this is a good tactical victory. i've seen evidence that particularly units like the golden division, which is the special operations task force. counterterrorism task force -- >> trained by the u.s.

>> trained by the u.s. the reason they are successful is they are multi confessional. and multi sectarian. you have christians, sunni, shiite, including soldiers that have been tortured. these are real patriots of the country. my concern, and where i would sort of sound a note of skepticism or caution, is it's true that the shiite militia group that is anti american and pretty much wholesale proxies of iran stayed out of the fight but also true and i'm sure the general can attest to this because he knows the country very well and the history, these militias have infiltrated many institutions in the iraqi government. in the mid 2000s, the saadras controlled the transport ministry and health ministry and using ambulances as patty wagons not to hospitals but to prisons and to torture chambers. the federal police in iraq is controlled by the interior ministry. which is considered by the b

badder core. the core is headed by armory who is an iraqi citizen is a spy for iran and revolutionary guard core. he fought on the iran side being despite being, again, an iraqi national. what we have to wait and see what is going to happen in ramadi. it's not about expunging. how do you control or hold the terrain, most importantly, because iraq fundamentally boils down to a political solution. how do you stop blood letting or retaliatory attacks? if the federal police get up to kidnapping sunnis and charging >> hold that thought because i want to give general hurtling a chance to respond. >> there are certainly some places in other parts of iraq where that could occur, but i think what you will see in ramadi are going to be the areas.tment of police from local that's what we've seen in the past. when you're talking about most

of your viewers aren't going to know where, but those provinces are mixed and do have a shiite element and that possibility that there were sectarian divides and i have to watch and i agree we have to watch this closely. if there is any sectarian division, if there are desk squads, if there are hidden prisons, you'll have problems. >> if i can -- >> we do have to leave it there. bottom line, we can say it's progress but lots of caveats. appreciate your views. coming up next, lives lost, homes destroyed, the damage from the severe weather in texas. we'll have a first-hand look. i take prilosec otc each morning

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we want to show you right now what people are dealing with in the dallas area. that level of destruction, this after deadly tornados turned homes into barely recognizable rubble. the national weather service says an ef-4 tornado particularly has wind gusts up to 200 miles per hour was responsible for the destruction in garland, texas. tornados part of a deadly week of storms that claimed more than 40 lives across the country.

>> reporter: the path of destruction carved by this deadly december tornado. >> it's massive. >> oh my gosh, it's big. >> reporter: is growing clearer by the day. the twister part of a massive storm system that swept through texas and parts of the midwest over the weekend killing 24 people. in texas, 11 people died. eight of them in dallas county. on monday, less than 48 hours after the storm, survivors were allowed back into some of the hardest hit areas for the first time. carol barns was among them. her house barely standing. several cars piled up in front of the home. >> i think i'm in shock right now because i really don't believe that happened. >> reporter: barns and her family rode out the storm inside a bathroom. her husband and her children held on as the twister tore through the home. >> the walls started shaking and the house was rocking and we just kept hearing these noises, hold on, hold on and then it was nothing.

>> reporter: they survived but lost everything in the storm. so did david ruiz and his family. >> you really don't know what's coming next, you know. you don't know how to recover yet. >> reporter: the family's two cats are missing. the wintery mix that followed the tornado left little hope of salvaging much of what was left behind but ruiz says he's glad they have insurance and grateful they have the support of family and friends and most of all, thankful his wife and two children survived. >> thankfully a lot of family has been sending a lot of money so that we can recover and we're able to eat and, you know, stay somewhere warm with a friend. >> reporter: in illinois and missouri, more than a dozen people died after driving on to flooded roads. the victims include four foreign soldiers who were temporary stationed at fort leonardwood for training. now people in both states are bracing for what could be record flooding in the coming days.

>> there on the scene, is there more severe weather on the way? i'm afraid to ask. >> reporter: weather conditions here in the dallas area are expected to continue to improve, which is obviously great news for people here who have so much clean up to do. but flooding is a big concern, especially in missouri and illinois and earlier tonight, a semi and a school bus that was occupied were both swept off the road by rising flood waters. in illinois that's just east of st. louis, thankfully, everyone was rescued and no one was hurt, jim. >> thanks very much on the scene. there is a lot more happening tonight. randi kaye is here with a 360 news and business bulletin. >> jim, another controversial police shooting in chicago. two people, including a mother of five, were killed over the weekend. police say 55-year-old betty jones was accidently hit when

they shot at 19-year-old legrier who police say was combative. his family says he suffered from mental illness. "star wars the force awakens" broke the $1 million barrier just 12 days after the global release. the seventh "star wars" film made half a billion dollars. in the u.s. alone. a real life sea monster, check this out, captured in an under water camera. this giant squid swam into a bay in central japan on christmas eve. one very brave diver helped guide that tentacled visitor right out to the sea, jim. >> thanks very much. up next, counting down the top "ridiculist" of 2015. you voted, we've crunched the numbers. tonight we start at number three. "ow..." "are you okay?" "yeah, i just got charged for my credit monitoring. that's how i know it"s working." "ah. you know you can go on creditkarma.com and check

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it is that time of year where we countdown the top "ridiculist" of 2015. we begin at number three, unforgettable encounter between a bear, chihuahua and ex marine. >> time for "the ridiculist" and we're adding the bear that missed with carl. what is carl? carl is an ex marine, occasional

barroom brawler and unafraid of close combat animal style. >> the man or beast that i run from ain't been born, and it's mama is already dead. >> oh, yeah, we're just getting started with carl. what carl said sounded familiar, it's because that's how wolf blitzer begins "the situation room." before we hear more from carl, let's layout the basics what happened with carl's california home. >> his dog started whimpering outside. carl ran out and there it was, a bear who had no idea what world it just stepped into. carl's world. >> okay. can we get some popcorn because i think i'm going to need some popcorn. >> i ain't running from nothing. i never have in my whole life and i ain't going to start now and you're not going to sacrifice my babies for some damn bear. >> okay. first of all, just like a movie, i cannot believe this.

second of all, i would like to announce carl is cnn's newest homeland security advisor. >> i raised both hands in the air and cussed at him. get out of here you [ bleep ]. >> all right. i think carl may have missed his calling as a life coach. i'm going to need to hear that again. let's replay that. >> get out of here you [ bleep ]. >> all right. if that is not my new ring tone, i don't know what it. carl has rushed out of the house and is now hurling obscenities at the bear. your move, bear. >> and he looked at me like go "f" yourself. >> what happened next you ask? i certainly did. i don't even know how to describe what happened next. get some popcorn. >> what happened next can only be described as insane. carl landed a whirling haymaker, punching the bear right in the face. >> a whirling haymaker. for those of you following along

at home, the bear is now joe fraser, carl and muhammad ali and carl's porch is basically madison square garden. >> he came up like this and turned, boom! i hit him hard. damn near corkscrewed his head. >> before you start tweeting me, i don't necessarily support or recommend punching bears in their heads, not at all. i want to be very clear on that. that's not something i'm calling for. also, you might be skeptical things happen exactly how carl said they did. fortunately, the local news interviewed a witness. >> he says the bear was a bit shorter than carl but still an opponent. >> wait a minute. the bear was a bit shorter than carl? are we sure the animal carl attacked was actually a bear? or did he maybe just throw a punch out a lab retriever. whatever it is, carl's message was received loud and clear. >> this guy is a jerk but ain't

been back since he got smacked by carl. >> wise words, spoken about carl by carl. as for the bear who messed with carl, it's gone to hibernation apparently on "the ridiculist." >> don't mess with carl. our "ridiculist" countdown continues tomorrow. this is "cnn newsroom" live from los angeles. ahead this hour, retaking ramadi. iraqi officials say the city has been liberated seven months after it was overrun by isis. donald trump goes there. with bill clinton about to hit the campaign trail for his wife hillary, trump says the former president's history of marital inif infidelity is fair game. the affluenza teen was on the run with his mom. soon both will be handed over to u.s. marshals. hello,